Personal stories are powerful, both for the storyteller and for the listener. The learning involved in composing a story has many aspects, for example focussing the message, thinking of the audience, communicating clearly and creativity. I have found a compelling way for students and teachers to create animated videos which are a great way to share stories. The application Adobe Voice allows you or your students to create a multi-modal presentation with no tricky editing. You can add your own recorded voice, images, animations and a sound track. This a free app

Talking QR codes

We are always looking for ways to encourage our students to tell their stories or express their learning. A “talking” QR code is a fun activity to engage students young and old. This activity can be used for digital storytelling and to promote literacy as well as mathematical understanding. Use talking QR codes to encourage students to create authentic stories and share them with their peers and their families. Students in early childhood settings can tell the story about their artwork or read a story they have written. Students who are at pre-reading and prewriting stages can record themselves “reading” the print written by their teacher. Older students can add a narrative to a project or make their thinking visible by explaining the process they followed to solve a maths problem. Talking QR codes can be used for learning a language or to describe a science experiment. I am sure you can`t wait to get started, the best part is that it is so easy the students can do it themselves. I have selected a very quick free way to do this in your classroom. It works with a computer or any mobile tablet or smart phone.

How to create a talking QR code

You start by creating a recording and linking to it with a quick response code or QR code.

Scan this QR code and hear how to create an audio file

You need to record an audio file and store it online which can be accessed via a QR code.

To do this activity you will need access to wifi

Go to this site http://vocaroo.com

Vocaroo is easy to use.

It starts recording immediately you just have to press stop when you are done.

You can listen to your recording and redo it if needed.

It gives you a range of options for sharing the recording- select Qr code on the bottom right hand corner

You can read the QR code with any QR code application these are free for mobile devices-

If you are not sure go to my previous post No # 28 which describes how to scan QR codes

What are QR codes?

A QR code is a quick response code. There was a lot of interest in QR Codes at a professional learning session I presented to a group early years teachers this week.

There were lots of questions about QR codes, as promised here are some great ideas on how to use QR Codes in your classroom

Load a free QR code scanning app to your iPad, tablet or phone and see if you can read this QR code then start making your own QR codes

A QR code is a quick response code . It looks like a big bar code and contains data that can be read by a camera on a phone, a computer, an iPad or any tablet device.

Scan this QR code

How do I read a QR code

You need to download a QR code reader this allows the camera on your device to scan the code and reveal the information it contains. Many of the QR code readers are are free.

The QR code readers that I use are i-nigma and Q-rafter. To read a QR code select the QR code reader on your device. Hold it close to the QR code. It will very quickly take you to the URL or webpage and will reveal the information embedded in the code.

What do I need to use QR codes in my classroom?

A QR code directs you to a website. To use this successfully in your classroom you need to have a good wifi system and devices that are able to connect to the web. You can use QR codes using your mobile phone data- parents can do this- but it could be expensive for students to connect using a 3G or 4G connections

How do I make a QR code?

To make a QR code you need to pro ( paid) version of the app. This allows you to insert a URL and generate your own code.

Why would I use a QR code?

A QR code is a quick way to take you to a site on the web without you having to type in a log URL. This makes it great for students to use, even the youngest students can point a device and scan the code. You can create QR codes to use in your classroom-
print the codes and place them on posters- students scan them to get more information,
use them in a treasure hunt- scan for the next clue,
place them on students’ artwork add audio to hear them telling their story,
put them in the school newsletter to take parents to your class blog site or link to an interesting website, the list is endless.

Create a Treasure hunt with QR codes- no wifi required

This site allows you to create a free treasure hunt or quiz using QR codes.

Develop your questions and type them into the space provided on the classtools site-

QR codes are generated for each question or clue- P

Print these and put them on display or hide them in the playground- students scan them uisng a qR code scanning app- Qrafter- I-nigma- the question is revealed -no wifi is required

Use Qr codes to gather responses from a group or class

Create a QR code using the URL to an online google form or an online form in Adobe Forms Central- students fill in the form and submit the information online- all information is collated in a spreadsheet

Get your students to create their own QR codes

The fun really starts when you get your students creating their own QR codes. Try this in your classroom and post a comment back on this blog to let use know how you are using QR codes.

How are teachers using QR codes?

Here are some links with great examples of QR codes in educational contexts

I want to write a story

Many children are natural story tellers, the challenge for teachers is how to transition from an oral code into a written code. In my research I am seeing some really exciting ways that early years educators are using ICT tools to support and guide emerging writing processes.

Writing needs to have an authentic purpose to encourage students to engage in the task. Creating a class blog to share stories with parents, friends and students in other classes can provide the authentic context needed to inspire young writers. These blogs can be password protected so that only the parents can have access or they can be open to the public. Each school and district will have its own policies on how to publish student work and some require parental permissions.

Are you a blogger?

There are some blog sites designed for teachers. I use Edublogs for my blogs. This is quick and easy to use and you don’t need any web design skills. The basic site is free for educators. To see how you can set up your own classroom blog use this link Edublogs

Mystery Skype

Skype is another free tool that can be used to connect classes and provide an authentic context for student writing. These two classes used a mystery Skype project to share their stories online Mystery Skype. This gives the students the motivation to write stories to share with friends.

E-Books

Students creating e-books is a great way to stimulate writing. There are a number of e-book platforms that you can use on iPads and tablets. We have used book creator app very successfully in the TIPS Project.

I frequently get asked by teachers,“how do I create learning experiences for my students to use the features on the iPads?“

I set out to explore how teachers who don`t have web editing skills can do this in an easy way. I saw a lot of high end complex and expensive options that would not be of interest to busy teachers. Then I found some teachers using using free software you can download on the web.

I was impressed at the amazing interactive resources teachers are developing for their classes using iTunesU and ibooks author.

These tools allow teachers to create their own interactive digital content that students can access on an iPad or a laptop. The iTunesU site also contains a wide range of material that teachers and students can access and customise. The great thing is it is all free. Lots of the content is created and shared by teachers. This teachers-2-teacher sharing of resources is a very positive and productive movement in education that benefits everyone.

A very exciting development is that I saw the students creating their own ibooks and sharing them with their peers and their parents. Students can work together outside the classroom and collaborate on joint projects extending their learning. These ibooks can be included in iTunesU courses allowing shared ownership of the learning materials. When students are looking for reliable content, making connection between sources they are engaging in higher order thinking and I have noticed how excited they get about learning.

Courses are created on a computer (MAC) and then loaded to the iTunesU site. Once in iTunesU courses can be shared with students privately by sending them a link or open access freely available courses can be downloaded from the site. You can open all the courses on an iPad, iPhone or an iPod touch. Here are guidelines on how to start building a course Creating your course

There are a series of short webcasts that show you how it all works in the classroom

I am preparing for a great twilight seminar tonight @ecu. We have had a fabulous responsee we were fully booked in two days over 400 registrations and more on the waiting list. We are using a teachmeet format to give teachers an opportunity to share the amazing work they are doing in their classrooms. I can’t wait to hear their presentations. I am presenting on my latest research project- Using video for professional growth-We will tweet during the event #ecutips13 The event is 8 August 4:30- 6:30pm Perth time in Western Australia

We are working on the TIPS-2 Project. In this project we are using iPads and iPhones and iPod Touches as tools for teacher reflection and to document teachers professional growth. This is a very exciting project and we have some amazing teachers and school principals as part of the research team. There was lots of discussion on how we reflect on the Australian Teacher Standards (@AITSL) and share our practice at our recent team meeting. We were joined by Samoa a fellow ADE from Korea who shared her experiences in developing a “flipped classroom”.

TIPS-2 Research Team @ECU with Dr Jenny Lane

I am looking forward to working with this great team to explore these exciting possibilities. If you are using iPads, iPhones or iPod touches in professional learning for teachers please post a comment we would be interesting in sharing ideas with you.

Investigate, Communicate, Create: Using an iPad as a productive tool in the classroom. Presenter: Dr Jenny Lane

We have a great group of over 250 teachers attending our session tonight. I do apologise to all those teachers who were disappointed because they did not manage to secure a seat to this presentation. I will be repeating this session next term. Thanks to all the teachers for attending this session and a special thank you to those who volunteered to share the amazing productive work happening in their classes and in their schools.

Investigate, Communicate, Create: Using an iPad as a productive tool in the classroom. Presenter: Dr Jenny Lane

We are offering a professional learning event for partnership school teachers at Edith Cowan University Mount Lawley Campus on the 30 May 2013. I will be sharing some of the exciting things I learnt at the recent Apple Distinguished Educators Summer Institute.

Come and join us as we learn and share experiences about using iPads in schools. Unfortunately this presentation is fully booked.

This blog is part of the professional learning for research that I am doing with teachers in schools. It is important that we do applied research on our practices. When doing research involving students it is very important that ethical processes and procedures are followed.There are different processes and guidelines that need to be followed in different countries and educational systems. I suggest that before you start on a research project, take time to find out about the ethics processes and the permissions you have to have to proceed in your educational system. If you are not sure contact the department of education, a university or a local research institute who will guide you through the correct procedures.

The research that I do goes through rigorous procedures to ensure it meets the ethical guidelines for research, these mandated for research projects involving human participants in Australia. Before any data is gathered the research project has been reviewed and approved by the University Ethics Committee. My research has also met the requirements for research in the schooling systems in Western Australia, namely the department of Education and Catholic Education. It has also received the approval of the school managers and prinicipals of the schools involved. Here is a short 3 minute video which gives explains the TIPS research project phase 1.

I am now working on the TIPS research project phase 2 involving advanced professional learning for teachers.

When selecting apps my rule is “less is more”…In my experience it is better to have a few carefully selected apps that you can use in multiple ways than an app for every topic.

For many teachers at the start of a semester or the beginning of a new school year you will be deciding which apps you will be using in your teaching. Selecting the right apps can be a challenge when there are so many applications on the app store. Always keep your educational objective clearly in focus, it is easy to be seduced by bright colours and cute animations. Think carefully about what the student will do… will this app allow the students to create, engage in higher order thinking and connect in new ways? There is some value in apps that allow students to consolidate their skills in an engaging manner. Apps that support the teaching and can be used across the curriculum are good value per use as opposed to apps that will be used once or twice in a specific area.

A colleague Jan Clarke from AISWA has shared an extensive list of apps that she has complied. Classroom apps Thanks for sharing all your hard work Jan. I look forward to hearing from you about the apps you find most useful in your teaching.

I have been exploring different ways of making learning more mobiIe. We want to take learning to exciting authentic places in the real world. The gopro video cameras capture high resultion video footage of high speed activities. I recently presented at the fabulous Createworld Conference in Brisbane. At this conference the focus is on sharing how you are using technology to stimulate creativity. A interesting use of mobile technologies was an inspirational performance by Beau entitled “Sliver surfer”. Beau set up a simulation with a silver tarp and a surfboard on wheels. The surfboard was fitted with a “Gopro”and a small projector connected to an iPhone. On the iPhone were video Images of waves which were projected on to a silver tarp. The tarp was used to form the tube of a wave. The “surfer” then surfed through the tube on the surf board with wheels.

The Gopro captured the experience of the surfing simulation. The video could be uploaded to an iPad for on the spot editing in iMovie and shared on Vimeo. This raises the possibility of capturing high quality video of simulation and authentic experiences an exciting combination of science, technology and visual arts.

The research I have been doing in this project has brought some very clear messages from teachers

1.Teachers want to know how they can use the exciting new mobile technologies in their teaching. They also want to know how they can use the existing technologies in more interactive, engaging ways.

2. Teachers want support from school leadership and educational organisations in a number of areas to make changes in teaching: resourcing, training, infra-structure

3.Teachers want support to learn the new skills to transform classroom practice:

To teach in new ways integrating ICT, teachers need help to acquire a range of skills to create resources, plan interactive learning experiences, distribute work and assess learning using digital tools.

Free twilight seminar and workshops for teachers:

Drivers of Transformative teaching.

In this upcoming twilight seminar I will give an overview of the findings from the Tpack iPad Project in Schools on what teachers report they need to integrate information and communications technology (ICT) in their teaching.

We will look at some of the tools available for teachers to create digital learning resources that can be accessed on a range of mobile devices including iPads. We will highlight at practical examples of how Adobe software can be used across the curriculum to promote student learning. This will provide an overview of what is possible including creating multimedia portfolios, multimodal texts, e-pubs, digital storytelling, movie making and simple photo editing. Examples and context will be linked to the Australian National Curriculum.

An introductory PD will be held on 29 November 2012 at ECU’s Mount Lawley campus and is available to teachers. If you would like to attend, please register here.

We would love to hear about how you are using the Adobe products in your teaching come along to share your experiences with us in a short 3-5min session. Use the link above to register.

More detailed hands on workshops will be provided on 30 November, at Mount Lawley campus where teachers will be asked to bring their own laptops to be guided through a series of training sessions in using Adobe software for teachers and how to include the use of multi media tools by students for learning and assessment. Two workshops will be conducted Workshop 1 starting at 9am-12pm and Workshop 2 from 1pm until 3pm. Please register your interest for these sessions here

I felt very honoured to be awarded a national award from the Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching for my work and research on the use of ICT in education. The citation:

“For sustained contribution to promoting the use of learning technologies to enhance student learning through research and personal practice.”

Celebrating the awards with Frank Lane,Dr. Jenny Lane, Professor Mark Hackling who received an award for his contribution to Science Education and Research, Kathleen Hackling and Professor Lynne Cohen, Dean of the Faculty of Education and the Arts Edith Cowan University.

One of the most frequently asked questions that I receive is “how do I get started using iPads in my classroom?”.
The next question I get asked is “I know the basics but what is the next step? How do I integrate this technology into my teaching to make a difference in learning outcomes?”<

In response to these questions I have prepared two preconference workshops that I will be offering at the ACEC conference in Perth on the 2 October. The morning workshop “Getting started with iPads” gives an overview of how to set up and begin using iPads effectively in classrooms.

In the afternoon workshop we will look at ways of “Integrating iPads into the curriculum”. We will discuss and create resources that teachers can use in their teaching. The designing of workflows to import and export materials from mobile devices will be one of the topics we will explore.

These workshops are also open to those who cannot attend the full conference. You can book on the conference website.

Thanks to all who attended the workshops we had two amazing groups of enthusiastic educators. Many thanks to the fabulous teachers Louise, Kym and Anna and Jamie and the crew from Winthrop who helped me facilitate the groups as the enrolments to these workshops kept increasing.

The spirit of sharing and collaboration made these workshops a very worthwhile learning experience for all. I am sharing the workshop resources through an edmodo site. To access the resources set up a personal edmodo account. This is free. Search for the group titled Jenny lane and join it. The code for the group is mom1q0. ( last letter is the digit 0). Please contribute by adding your comments thoughts and ideas.